The Chilean-born coach analysed the match in La Rosaleda’s press room, stating: “It was a fair result tonight. We were up against a team that focuses on a very intense, powerful style of play, and who are having a great season so far. We lacked finesse with the ball during the first half, however Demichelis had a great opportunity to score, as did Atlético’s Diego Costa. I think we were much better in the second half and dominated the match. Weligton had a chance to open the scoring with a fantastic header, and we had other shots at goal that didn’t end well. However, if a win isn’t on the cards, then a draw is always preferable than losing. A team always wants to win a home game, and I think a draw was fair for both teams tonight.”
Pellegrini looks at the second half, in which Málaga CF were the superior side over the 45 minutes: “We performed much better in the second half, controlling the ball well, although with perhaps too much transferring to other players which prevented us from creating many goal chances. We’ve still got a lot of hard work to do to ensure we regain our confidence on the pitch.”
With regards to the defeats in Porto and Sevilla, the ‘Malaguista’ coach says: “I don’t think the team is experiencing a bad patch, it’s tough to maintain such a high performance level all season. There are good and bad times throughout the year, but generally speaking, we’re doing well and are still in fourth place in the League, and still in the running for the Champions League next year. We’re working on improving our attacking form, which is difficult with some important players out through injury, but I hope we end the season performing as well as we have been throughout two thirds of the year.”
Without doubt, Pellegrini believes the team gained a point tonight, rather than lost two: “We’ve earned a point against a great team, who are having a very good season; currently in second place in the League and in the final of the Copa del Rey. There are a lot of quality players at Atlético. We went out there determined to win tonight, and were the better team in the second half. We managed not to lose to a team that is used to winning on the counter-attack,” affirms Pellegrini, who stressed that Málaga’s strong defence was the reason they gained a point tonight.